Tips for Ridesharing with Kids!

If you live in a big city, you may be a pro at ridesharing using Uber or Lyft with your kids, but for those of us who don’t, it can be a bit of a foreign concept. When you’re traveling, you may need to use a ridesharing app, whether it’s to or from the airport, or across town, and if you’re on your own, that’s more than easy. You can estimate your fare using an online calculator, request a driver and you’re on your way.

What happens if you have your kids with you, particularly young kids, though? Can you still make it work, and what are the logistics like?

The following are some tips and things to know about ridesharing with kids, especially young kids.

Carseats

The biggest priority when you’re out of town with your kids and using various forms of transportation is safety. Uber has offered options for families with young kids for quite a while in major cities. You can opt for the Uber Family or Uber Car Seat service, and you can specify this when you request a driver.

Of course, you should realize that if you go with this option, you will have to probably wait for longer because there are fewer drivers with car seats available. Also, the seats are usually forward facing, and the driver only has one.

Lyft has recently introduced drivers with car seats as well. It costs extra as with Uber’s options, but Lyft only has car seats available in NYC right now. The car seat is only allowed to be used with children over one year as well.

Other Options

Some parents have found that using Uber or Lyft car seat rides really aren’t the best option. First, there’s only one seat, and second, you do significantly limit your available rides, and if you’re in a hurry that’s not ideal.

If your kids are old enough, you can bring your own booster seats, which are much more space-efficient than convertible car seats. There are a couple of other clever options that work well for ridesharing as well.

There are inflatable boosters which are fully approved in terms of safety and are space efficient so that you can bring them with you on the go.

There are also child harnesses that you can hook into a cab or ridesharing car, and they can often be used on kids who are younger than what would normally be acceptable with a booster seat.

Schedule Pickup

When you’re traveling with kids, you might have the concern that you won’t get a ride, or that you won’t’ get somewhere on time, particularly if you factor your car seat needs into it.

There are options to schedule your ride ahead of time on apps like Uber, and this way you will know when it’s picking you up and you can be ready and give yourself enough time to put car seats or boosters in.

Finally, make sure you choose the right vehicle. It’s more expensive to get a larger car, but if you request a driver and they get there, and your family won’t fit, you’ve wasted everyone’s time. A standard car may be fine for a family of four but take into consideration things like luggage and strollers. It may be more expensive to size up, but it can save you time to go ahead an err on the larger side when you’re ridesharing with kids.